I may be an idiot for putting this out there, but.....

By Aaron Taylor

A few years back, I read an article by a former Bible School professor of mine, a messianic Jew. In the article, the man praised the accomplishments of the Jewish people in creating the State of Israel, which by itself wouldn't be so bad I suppose, but it was the subtle (or perhaps, not so subtle) undertone that troubled me. Everything in the article screamed out God made us superior to those Arabs. That's why Israelis have accomplished so many technological advances!  While the article never used the words "master race" or "superior race", it might as well have, because that's precisely what the article was suggesting, except that the author went a step further and inserted God into the equation as to why the Jewish people are superior to others.

Okay....this is the point where I should probably keep my big mouth shut.

Must.  Stop. Typing.

Must Stop. Typing.

I. Can't. Help. Myself.

Will. Be. Logged. In. Cyberspace. For. Eternity.

I may be an idiot for putting this out there, but............

Isn't that what the Germans believed in the 1930's, that they were a master race genetically superior to others?

While I would never equate Zionism with Nazism, should it really be off limits to raise moral concerns when (some) Zionist Jews and (all) Christian Zionists use terms like "special" and "chosen" to describe the Jewish people today, and then boast about the Jewish people's superior intellect and technological capabilities, plus inserting God and genetics into the mix as the reason for their superiority? How is that any different from other groups of people that thought virtually the same things about themselves? White settlers in America, white South Africans, Spanish conquistadors, pre-World War II Japanese--all of these groups of people thought the same thing about themselves and no serious historian or moral thinker today would judge that belief a good thing, and yet it seems like any time a person raises this issue as it relates to the Jewish people, they're immediately slapped with the charge of being anti-Semitic. Is it really anti-Semitic to entertain the thought that it might not be a good idea for any group of people to think so highly of themselves?

Rant over.

While I don't necessarily endorse the write-up at the end of the video below, I decided to post this because whoever made this video raises important issues about the moral implications of any group of people believing that they are genetically superior to others....and/or have a God-given mandate to rule over others deemed "inferior."

This article originally appeared on Middle East Experience

Kind atheists or hateful Christians? Which does God prefer?

Pastor Shawn Craig of Crosspoint Church, also a member of the famous Christian group Philips, Craig, and Dean wrote a thoughtful post the other day about whether God prefers kind atheists or hateful Christians. When I lived in Missouri, I attended Crosspoint, which at the time was called South County Christian Center. My parents remain faithful members, and for good reason. Pastor Shawn is a Bible teacher par excellence!

In this particular post, (see the link below) I found Pastor Shawn's take on the parable of the Good Samaritan to be worth reading, although it doesn't appear that he has grappled too much with the fact that Jesus made the heretic the hero of the story, and what that might mean in terms of how Christians today should view people of different faiths. The closest parallel to the way Jews thought of Samaritans in their day is the way Christians think of Muslims today.

How would the average Christian feel today if they heard a Sunday morning sermon about a guy getting beat up, left for dead, and while the worship leader and the youth pastor pass him by, the person that actually helps the man is a Muslim named Ahmed. This is how the Jews would have heard Jesus' story. The guy that was supposed to be the "bad guy" turned out to be the one who actually fulfilled the great commandment, which is to love your neighbor as yourself.

Contrary to what Pastor Shawn seems to be saying in this post,(and I do emphasize the word seems, since I very well could have misread the post) I do think that the parable of the Good Samaritan lends itself to the question of which is more important: orthodoxy (right believing) or orthopraxy (right living)? I don't agree that it's inappropriate to ask the question of who might God prefer: kind atheists (or Muslims, Jews, gays, insert the standard evangelical heretic here) or Christians who have their theological ducts in order--that is to say, they believe all the right things--but despise outsiders.

Having said that......

Pastor Shawn makes an excellent point when he says that God prefers people that believe in Jesus.

Can't argue with that.

And, of course, I agree that the Old Testament law, as well as many of the next-to-impossible demands that Jesus sets in the Sermon on the Mount, are meant to frustrate us to the point of acknowledging that it's only by grace that we can be saved, not by any works of righteousness or merit on our own part. I just don't think that's the point that Jesus is making in the parable of the Good Samaritan.

I could be wrong.

It wouldn't be the first time.

Read the article here.

What say you?